


Crystals.

by RussianSunflower3



Series: Answered ask meme answers [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU idea, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Necklace of hearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 12:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9385979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RussianSunflower3/pseuds/RussianSunflower3
Summary: "There are only so many times I can watch you break before I start to crack."At birth, every baby is presented a necklace. It’s a simple black string, but on that string, is 10 differently coloured crystal hearts. Each heart is a chance to love, and each individual has 10 chances, before they lose that ability in misery and pain.Iwaizumi Hajime only has 6





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [qrandkinq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/qrandkinq/gifts).



At birth, every baby is presented a necklace. It’s a simple black string, but on that string, is 10 differently coloured crystal hearts. Each heart is a chance to love, and each individual has 10 chances, before they lose that ability in misery and pain. 

Iwaizumi Hajime only has 6. 4 have gone, and as Matsukawa follows Iwaizumi’s gaze across the gym, he knows why - and for whom - the hearts have shattered. Oikawa lines up to do another serve, and his form is nothing but beautiful as he slams one over. Girls in the audience cheer, one of them his new girlfriend, and Oikawa waves back. 

Matsukawa hears Iwaizumi sigh deeply, before he returns to smacking the ball against the wall. There’s another tiny patch of discolouration on his 5th heart - the yellow one. Until the heart breaks, it’ll stay stained and scarred forever. Some of the hearts can heal, but they can never love again, and they don’t resemble hearts. The first one on Iwaizumi’s necklace, a deep scarlet, is a jagged and chipped sphere, with white fracture lines and sharp edges. 

Matsukawa has all 10. There’s only one person he’s ever loved, and he’s never seen Iwaizumi date anyone else. Henceforth, even if his feelings aren’t returned, his hearts remain intact for the time being. Pitying the way Iwaizumi flinches when Oikawa calls his girlfriend down from the balcony to teach her how to play, Matsukawa steps a little closer.

“Hey, Iwaizumi. Want to play pepper with me?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure.” They rally the ball back and forth between them, volleys and digs to keep the ball going as much as possible. At some point, Hanamaki bounces over and it becomes a game of piggy-in-the-middle with Hanamaki trying to grab the ball from midair. They’re happy, laughing and teasing each other, and then there’s a distinctive sound of glass shattering. The ball falls to the ground by Iwaizumi, and his wide eyes stare beyond Matsukawa. 

Yellow crystals fall to the ground like raindrops, skittering across the gymnasium floor as they disintegrate into dust. Hanamaki quickly scoops it together, gathering the tiny yellow grains in his hand, and ushers Iwaizumi out the room. With any luck, the crystals will reform themselves and reattach, giving his yellow heart one more chance. One more fragile, easily-shattered chance.

Matsukawa almost follows them when he hears giggles from behind. Oikawa is pretty much tickling his girlfriend as he ‘teaches’ how to stand when receiving the ball. They may as well be making out, with how intimate they are. A flurry of rage fills Matsukawa. He’s happy Oikawa found someone, really he is, but is he completely blind to how much flaunting his relationship hurts Iwaizumi?!

“What is your _problem_?! For fucks sake, Oikawa, love really is blind, isn’t it?!” His outburst draws attention from the entire court, but before they can start whispering, Matsukawa storms out the room. He'll apologise to Oikawa later, once he's calmed down.

He closes the door behind him surprisingly gently. Hanamaki looks up at him with a lost expression, the grains in his hand losing their colour instead of bonding together again. This heart won’t heal. 

“Hey, Iwaizumi…” Matsukawa crouches down beside Hanamaki, trying to get a response as Iwaizumi bitterly stares at his necklace, only 5 crystal hearts to show. Most people their age have all 10, or 9 at the very least. Iwaizumi’s problem is that he falls in love far too easily, with the same person over and over again.

“Iwaizumi…?” Eyes dull with anger and hurt turn to Matsukawa, and Iwaizumi licks his lips to wet them for speech.

“8 hearts… I promised 8 hearts to him…” A harsh bark of laughter echoes in the hallway before he drops his head into his hands, voice quivering.

“I’m going to lose them all before we graduate, aren’t I?” Hanamaki gently squeezes Iwaizumi’s shoulder before passing the now-colourless dust over to Matsukawa. He knows Matsukawa wants to speak to Iwaizumi alone, and slips back into the gymnasium to explain things to the younger years. They, at the least, deserve to know what’s going on. 

Once Hanamaki has gone, Matsukawa exhales deep and slow. His hand curls around the colourless dust and he wills it to somehow return to it’s fragile but capable state. It doesn’t work like that though. It never does. Slowly, Matsukawa moves onto the bench next to Iwaizumi and wraps his other arm around Iwaizumi’s back, pulling him against himself. Iwaizumi doesn’t fight it, leaning into Matsukawa’s warmth.

“He doesn’t love you, Iwaizumi. He probably never will. But… I think you already know that, don’t you?” Iwaizumi nods against his shoulder, and reaches out to prod Matsukawa’s hand. When he unfurls his fingers, Iwaizumi abruptly sweeps away the colourless dust, letting it vanish into thin air. His hand returns to his necklace, brushing over the remaining 5 hearts.

“I just wish they’d all disappear at once.” 

“What? All 5?”

“No… Just the three left for him. I know they’re for him. They all feel the same. But the other two…” He rests his index finger over the dark blue and indigo hearts. 

“They feel different. Warmer. They’re for someone else.”

“Do you know who?” Iwaizumi pauses, before he nods, and Matsukawa reaches up to ruffle his hair with a grin, despite being a little upset that Iwaizumi has someone in mind - and it’s probably not him. The first of Matsukawa’s hearts, a rosy red, gains a small pink spot of discolouration. 

“That’s great! Why don’t you tell them? You don’t have to wait for the others to break first, y’know?” Iwaizumi pulls away from him, looking up into Matsukawa’s eyes with a haunting glaze covering his own.

“Because if they break, I’ll never be able to love again. I love this person, but I don’t want to lose that ability. Even if they never love me back… Until they find someone else, I’ll treasure this feeling.” 

“... I understand.” Matsukawa unconsciously fiddles with his own necklace. All 10 of his hearts are devoted to Iwaizumi. 10 chances to love him, to be loved in return. He remains hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he could be the one Iwaizumi saved 2 hearts for.

-

A week passes by. Matsukawa has a dentist appointment that means he has to rush away from practice early, and he’s horrified to see small fractures on all three of the hearts Iwaizumi indicated were for Oikawa. He even thinks the aqua one has already broken, and remarkably restored itself. 

But there’s nothing he can say or do as his mother ushers him out of the gym and into the car, taking him to the dentist. By the time he’s had two fillings done and the strange whitening process dentists do, it’s dark outside. As they’re driving home, they have to pass the school. Matsukawa sees light flooding out the open door of the gymnasium.

“Mum, stop the car.” It’s probably Oikawa, straining his knee as he practices serve after serve. Again. Even if he’s learnt better from first year, he still falls into the bad habit occasionally. Matsukawa jumps out the car and jogs over to the gymnasium, freezing when he peers in. 

It isn’t Oikawa. It’s Iwaizumi.

And he isn’t practicing. He’s lying on his side, curled up like he’s in pain, coloured glass spread outwards across the floor, in an explosion of heartbreak. Matsukawa’s stomach twists. No. No _no **no**_. He couldn’t have lost all 5, could he…? One of Iwaizumi’s eyes peels open slowly, having heard someone approach.

“M-Matsukawa…” Without wasting another second, Matsukawa jogs over to him and brushes the crystal fragments into one tiny pile. As he nudges them towards Iwaizumi’s necklace, a hand around his wrist stops him, pushing him away.

“I-Iwaizumi, your hearts-”

“I don’t want them. They’re finally gone…” Matsukawa glances back down at the crystals in hand. Aqua. Green. Brown. There’s only three colours. The three Iwaizumi had told him were for Oikawa. There’s a sad smile on Iwaizumi’s lips, and Matsukawa solemnly lets the crystals fall from his hand before moving to help him sit up. 

It usually pangs to have a single heart suffer from a blemish or crack. It hurts when one breaks, so he’s been told. For each heart lost, the pain increases tenfold. To lose almost the _last three_ at once? Matsukawa can’t imagine the physical pain Iwaizumi is going through, let alone the emotional agony of finally letting go.

There’s a distinct cracking sound. Both of them look to Iwaizumi’s necklace, startled, but there’s not a blemish on either of the two remaining. Then it hits Matsukawa. Like a pinprick, he feels it. Reaching up to his necklace, the first heart, pale red with discolouration has a split right down the middle. 

“M-Matsukawa…?” Huffing softly, Matsukawa reaches up to brush his fingers over it. His eyes meet Iwaizumi’s and the corner of his lips quirk upwards in an attempt to soothe him.

“I guess... There are only so many times I can watch you break before I start to crack...” Iwaizumi’s eyes widen a fraction and he shuffles to his knees, wincing at the sharp stab of pain in his chest, though it’s nowhere near as bad as when the three hearts splintered into glass fractures at the exact same time. 

“Take it easy…” Despite Matsukawa trying to ease him through the motions, Iwaizumi determinedly grasps at his necklace and stretches it out as far as he can, leaning in until he can press it against Matsukawa’s. 

They glow. They _glow_. All 10 of Matsukawa’s hearts, and the 2 Iwaizumi has left, shine with a bright light that matches their colour. When Iwaizumi pulls away, the crack on Matsukawa’s heart had completely healed, and his own two look brighter than ever. Matsukawa notices that all of them have subtly increased in size too.

“What- What was that? Iwaizumi, what did you do?” Iwaizumi smiles at him, and Matsukawa notes he looks happier and healthier than he has in a long time.

“Don’t you know? When two hearts feel the same, they can heal each other. You- You were the one I kept my two hearts for…” Matsukawa leans down to kiss him, only to stop when Iwaizumi hisses in pain. He’s still suffering the rebound of losing three hearts at once.

“Alright, let’s get you in the car. We’ll drive you home.” 

“Thanks.” Matsukawa helps Iwaizumi into the backseat of the car, and they lean against each other in soft, comfortable silence as Matsukawa’s mother drives them to Iwaizumi’s, internally celebrating that her son has found love, and love returned. Iwaizumi’s parents are extremely grateful when they turn up at his house. They’d been out searching the neighbourhood and had been on the verge of calling the police to report him missing.

“Hey, Matsukawa?” Iwaizumi stops his father from closing the front door with a flat hand, looking over his shoulder at Matsukawa with a fond smile.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll give you that kiss tomorrow.” He winks, and Matsukawa blushes as he ducks into the car, hearing Iwaizumi laugh warmly before he’s taken inside to lie down and recover. Matsukawa covers his face with his hands as his mother teases him the whole way home, making his face flush crimson.

He smiles the whole night, and it only widens when Iwaizumi fulfils his promise at practice the next morning.


End file.
